the_immortal_library's review against another edition
4.0
Title: Girl, Serpent, Thorn
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Narrator: Nikki Massoud
Rating: 3.75
Soraya has loved hidden all her life because of a powerful secret. Soraya has poison in her veins and can kill any living thing with her touch. As her twin brothers wedding approaches, she meets a man who has her wanting to come out of the shadows. She sacrifices her safety and the trust of others to become a normal human again. But as she does this demons terrorize her coty and imprison her loved ones. Can she defeat this evil or will she give into its demands?
I received this audiobook via NetGalley. The narrator had a nice voice but I don’t think it’s suited Soraya the main character. This audiobook is only done by the narrator and there are no other narrators for other characters so you only get to hear her voice. The story flows really well. The amount of secrecy and betrayal in the story gave me anxiety. I really enjoyed how Soraya came into herself. She started to see the world in a different light from what she originally did. And she started to realize that the power she had was more of a blessing than a curse, as she had originally thought and I thought that was very well written.
The love story took me by surprise. But it was in chanting. I love the essence of magic in a way that I hadn’t seen before this isn’t fae and spells. There is a deeper cultural magic that the author explains about at the end of the book with an authors note.
if you like books about heroines, love , magic, forgiveness, and trust and the power that those elements provide this is definitely the book for you.
I received this audiobook from Macmillan Audio (@macmillan.audio ) in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley (@netgalley ).
#audiobookreview #netgalleyaudiobooks #netgalley #netgalleyreview #girlserpentthorn #soraya #ya #yafantasy #fantasy #romance #action #audiobook
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Narrator: Nikki Massoud
Rating: 3.75
Soraya has loved hidden all her life because of a powerful secret. Soraya has poison in her veins and can kill any living thing with her touch. As her twin brothers wedding approaches, she meets a man who has her wanting to come out of the shadows. She sacrifices her safety and the trust of others to become a normal human again. But as she does this demons terrorize her coty and imprison her loved ones. Can she defeat this evil or will she give into its demands?
I received this audiobook via NetGalley. The narrator had a nice voice but I don’t think it’s suited Soraya the main character. This audiobook is only done by the narrator and there are no other narrators for other characters so you only get to hear her voice. The story flows really well. The amount of secrecy and betrayal in the story gave me anxiety. I really enjoyed how Soraya came into herself. She started to see the world in a different light from what she originally did. And she started to realize that the power she had was more of a blessing than a curse, as she had originally thought and I thought that was very well written.
The love story took me by surprise. But it was in chanting. I love the essence of magic in a way that I hadn’t seen before this isn’t fae and spells. There is a deeper cultural magic that the author explains about at the end of the book with an authors note.
if you like books about heroines, love , magic, forgiveness, and trust and the power that those elements provide this is definitely the book for you.
I received this audiobook from Macmillan Audio (@macmillan.audio ) in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley (@netgalley ).
#audiobookreview #netgalleyaudiobooks #netgalley #netgalleyreview #girlserpentthorn #soraya #ya #yafantasy #fantasy #romance #action #audiobook
cameras's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
paperlove's review against another edition
Das war wohl nichts. Obwohl ich die Idee einer Nacherzählung einer Geschichte aus der persischen Mythologie und einer bisexuellen Protagonistin sehr vielversprechend gefunden habe, konnte ich einfach keinen Zugang zu der Handlung oder den Charakteren finden - kurz gesagt: Der Schreibstil konnte mich nicht packen. Die Story habe ich in ähnlicher Form leider schon x-fach in anderen YA Fantasyromanen gelesen, was vermutlich dazu geführt hat, dass ich schlichtweg gelangweilt war. Irgendwann habe ich das Buch nur noch quer gelesen, bis ich nach fast einem 3/4 des Buches entschieden habe, es ganz abzubrechen. Es ist nicht schlecht, aber meins war es leider nicht. Und wenn man viele YA Fantasyromane liest (so wie ich), dann findet man hier leider nicht wirklich etwas Neues.
mythology_nerd333's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
irinak's review against another edition
3.0
2.75 stars.
The concept is very interesting, and Parvaneh is a very interesting character who unfortunately loses her bite as the story progresses - otherwise, Soraya is a pretty wishy-washy heroine who is not monstrous at all, even in her anger (that is pretty justified, imho, because her family honestly sucks lol), the whole conflict also comes from her mother who makes... very stupid decisions to avoid a catastrophe and doesn't prepare Soraya or anyone else to deal with the situation... for no reason at all other than "this is a Sleeping Beauty/Rapunzel retelling". Azad meanwhile either displays really good potential or is just a walking cartoon - which is a shame, because with better writing, it could have been *chef's kiss*.
I also appreciate the author went for a sapphic romance (even if I saw the twist coming miles away, because the whole story is pretty cliché and predictable), but honestly, I wanted more.And I was also kind of wishing we got a F/F/M monster romance because man that would have been a good story
The concept is very interesting, and Parvaneh is a very interesting character who unfortunately loses her bite as the story progresses - otherwise, Soraya is a pretty wishy-washy heroine who is not monstrous at all, even in her anger (that is pretty justified, imho, because her family honestly sucks lol), the whole conflict also comes from her mother who makes... very stupid decisions to avoid a catastrophe and doesn't prepare Soraya or anyone else to deal with the situation... for no reason at all other than "this is a Sleeping Beauty/Rapunzel retelling". Azad meanwhile either displays really good potential or is just a walking cartoon - which is a shame, because with better writing, it could have been *chef's kiss*.
I also appreciate the author went for a sapphic romance (even if I saw the twist coming miles away, because the whole story is pretty cliché and predictable), but honestly, I wanted more.
glitterdeww's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Girl, Serpent, Thorn is a young adult fantasy novel that takes inspiration from middle eastern culture and mythology. It's plotting and world building feels interesting and well thought out, and the character growth of Soraya (our protagonist) is quite satisfying by the end of the story. There's also good queer representation within the romances that build throughout the book! I think in all the story accomplished what it intended. My only blanket criticism is that some aspects of the writing feel maybe a little bland? I'm writing this a week after finishing and I have trouble remembering some things that happened. Idk that the whole of the story will stick with me, but I did enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Child abuse
biblioemily's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. It is dense & complex for middle school readers, which is why I think it's most suited for high school; there isn't any content that might not be right for middle school (except violence)
tori_renee_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This book was overall pretty meh for me. The plot dragged on and the inner dialogue and emotional development was too repetitive. I enjoyed learning about Persian mythology and the sapphic rep. The author put a lot of research in as well.
roxanne1982's review against another edition
5.0
Classic « fairytale » with a little twist
Really enjoyed this
Really enjoyed this
labocat's review against another edition
3.0
Mix Zoroastrianism, Persian mythology, Rappaccini's Daughter, and a dash of Sleeping Beauty, and this is what comes of it - a book I wanted to like much more than I did and which I feel has a lot of potential that it struggled to polish. There's so many elements I love - the world is rich and full, dipping and weaving between myth and reality like all the best ancient epics, a girl made of poison, and the circumstances that come with that change. There's even a good balance between the three major characters' love triangle, something I don't see enough of. But in the end, it's just nice - a good read that all but flies by as the story races from one point to the next - but it didn't grab me like I'd hoped. Soraya felt too trapped for too much of the book, either literally or figuratively, by others' decisions or guidance, and even her coming into herself at the end felt too little too late.
This is an audio-only complaint, but I don't understand the choice to give the characters accents when speaking, especially since not all the characters had them. It wasn't a situation where characters were speaking a learned language between different cultures or races, and it felt like an odd choice to me.
This is an audio-only complaint, but I don't understand the choice to give the characters accents when speaking, especially since not all the characters had them. It wasn't a situation where characters were speaking a learned language between different cultures or races, and it felt like an odd choice to me.